Anglican scheme re-christened

The NZ Anglican Church KiwiSaver scheme has dropped the long-running Koinonia brand as part of a drive to broaden its appeal.

In March the $45 million, 1,750-member restricted scheme adopted the plain-pack ‘Christian KiwiSaver’ title more than 10 years after launching under the Koinonia banner.

Mark Wilcox, CEO of the NZ Anglican Church Pension Board, said the Koinonia name – while associated with Christian values – had proven “a bit confusing” for the KiwiSaver scheme’s target audience.

“Koinonia is a bit hard to pronounce and spell – and people often got it wrong,” Wilcox said. “But more importantly many people don’t know what it means.”

According to the internet, the Greek word koinonia, which appears 20 times in the bible, means ‘Christian fellowship’.

Wilcox said ‘Christian KiwiSaver’ offers a clearer statement of the scheme’s purpose and target audience.

“We wanted to clarify the brand,” he said. “We have a restricted audience but we wanted the name to be as clear and clean a description of what we are about.”

Wilcox said while the Koinonia scheme has grown steadily over the years, the new brand and focused marketing push (including a new website and Facebook page) could see the pace of expansion pick up.

The Christian KiwiSaver scheme has a potentially large membership base including: those employed in Christian organisation “whose primary activities are Christian mission or ministry”; anyone professing a Christian faith; and, any “immediate family member or dependant of a person with Christian faith”.

He said the Christian KiwiSaver scheme would be the growth engine for the NZ Anglican Church Pension Board, which oversees a further $160 million or so in traditional superannuation schemes that would gradually shrink over time.

Last year the scheme, which the Christian KiwiSaver website says invests “on ethical and responsible investment principles that we believe reflect Christian values”, implemented an ‘all-in’ management fee rather than applying costs directly to member accounts.